


Love in a War Zone

by TheRedGlass



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Light Whump, Oneshot, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt, Valentine's Day, Whump, war zone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRedGlass/pseuds/TheRedGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite the chaos and destruction around them, Clint and Natasha find a quiet way to remember that it's Valentine's Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love in a War Zone

**Author's Note:**

> I had a request on tumblr for a Clintasha Valentine's fic in a war zone. Just a oneshot.

The distant grumble of explosions continued to remind them that the latest out of control weapons systems wielded by a mentally unstable, power hungry man in a bad suit was not going to be shut down without a fight.

SHIELD had set up their camp in the ruins of what had been the industrial district of the small city that had been slammed with the shockwave of the first weapons test. Small computer screens were propped here and there on the dusty, dirty remains of girders and hunks of cement with a rat’s nest of cords snaking between the many broken places and hooking into generators and solar panels. Concerned SHIELD agents frowned over the screens and spoke in undertones, some darting back and forth and conferring. It was a slow but anxious buzz of activity.

Clint wrapped a small wound on his arm, more out of habit and something to do than actual concern. The mission was stalled until they could figure out how to evacuate the civilians still trapped in the blast zone of the latest weapons test without alerting the enemy and giving him a chance to destroy more innocent lives. Everyone was frustrated and hurting and dirty and tired and desperately hoping that Coulson’s latest intel would give them something more to work with.

There was a tap on his uninjured shoulder and he turned to see Natasha. He offered her a weak smile, and she gave one in return. “Let me do that,” she said, nodding at the bandage he was still attempting to affix.

He waved a hand. “I’ve had a worse.”

“Let me do it.”

He looked up in surprise. She’d been present for some of his worst injuries, but her tone of voice was so serious that he simply silently nodded and followed her out of the room, towards what he figured would be the emergency medical area they’d set up.

Instead, she led him up a flight of stairs into what had been an office, a huge chunk of ceiling missing so that the day’s sunlight streamed in with passion in direct contrast to otherwise grim surroundings. She’d found some mostly clean couch cushions somewhere and procured enough medical supplies for one person. He sat down where she indicated and let her tend to his wounds.

As she was cleaning out the laceration and he was trying not to make a face at how much the disinfectant stung, she quietly said, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

He looked up, blinking. “Oh my god,” he said. “That…that is today isn’t it.”

She nodded and pressed some antibiotic ointment into the wound.

“Nat, I’m so sorry, I forgot-”

She gave him a look. “Clint, do you see where we’re sitting?”

“Okay but still.” He reached up with his free hand to stroke his thumb across her lips. “I mean, I try to make every day special because I still can’t believe you wanna put up with me full time, but like…this is like the universally recognized day of grand gestures-”

“Oh hush.” But she went still and just gazed back at him as she gently kissed the pad of his thumb.

He stretched up to kiss her properly, to stroke her hair, not caring that it was dusty and dirty and filled with debris.

“I have something for you,” she murmured.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She broke away reluctantly and reached into her pack and brought out a rectangle wrapped in paper with unfamiliar writing on it. “It took some creative searching and at least one unauthorized side mission, but I managed to find some chocolate.” She handed it to him with a proud smile.

Clint found himself laughing and accepting the bar into his hands, turning it over and peeling back the paper in wonder. “Nat, this is amaz-you’re incredible,” he said, suddenly looking up at her. “You know that?” He hesitated. “But I don’t have anything for you.”

“Clint, you’re all I need,” she said very seriously. “I never ever thought I would get to have someone like you in my life, not after what they turned me into, not after what I’ve done.”

“That person wasn’t you.”

“I know that now.” She brushed some dirt from his cheek and suddenly pulled him in for a desperate hug. He pulled her tight to him, rubbing small circles on her back and just listening to the sound of her breath, grateful as always to have her so close.

After long minutes, she slowly sat up and held up a computer tablet. “Unless something catastrophic happens and we’re needed right away,” she said. “Coulson gave us a couple hours just to decompress.” She waved the tablet. “I got a few movies. You still wanted to see ‘Kate and Leopold’, right?”

Clint smiled contentedly. “Sounds perfect.”

And so, for a few hours, they cuddled together on the salvaged couch cushions in the ruined remains of the office building, nibbling at surprisingly decent chocolate, giggling at a movie and just holding each other and letting the violence of the outer world be swept away by the peace of their inner world.


End file.
